I may be in a DLR game soon and will play the blessed boxer with no thumbs. As he is Irish can his blessed powers be from the fey world of celtic myth. I was thinking when he gets his gifts in the hospital recovering from a beating by his former gang and the mulilation of his hands he could have visions. He is not sure if he got orders from the virgin Mary in blue or the Blue fairy queen Titania.

And his background is a former Plug Ugly from Baltamore. Any of the old DL source books mention the gangs on the east coast. I know the Plug Uglies are mashed in with the gange of new york as the author of the book in 1920 put them in new york and every one thinks it is the ultimate source

Guess the answer to the Original poster's first question would depend on the Marshal running the game, and on the charater's background. The write up of the Blessed left it pretty open by saying some pretty slimmy / ruff folks have been known to be blessed.

In my game the only player who's a blessed took the Pacifist (minor) hindrance. She took the AB(Miracles) and Conviction Edge at creation. She uses a Colt Peacemaker, and a Winchester '76 as shooting irons.

But I also have the Deseret equivalents to Agents & Texas Rangers being Blessed. And paterned after Porter Rockwell (the Mormon gun fighter who couldn't be killed if he didn't cut his hair, bodyguard of Joe Smith & Brigham Young). They can and do put outlaws in Boothill, and the Powers that Be, don't seem to mind it a bit. They also carry John Moses Browning's new auto pistols (in our universe they're be known as the Colt 1911).

The main way Blessed are balanced compared to the other arcane backgrounds is the use of sinning. As they have access to every power available to them, it is vitally important that the GM enforces sinning strictly.

The actual sins depend on the religion/background the Blessed has, and the examples in the Player's Guide are for a Christian. For example, Page 79 lists 'killing other than in self defence' as a mortal sin, which means if you do this then you lose your powers permanently until you undertake a suitably long and ardous quest to regain your faith. So if you are playing a Christian Blessed, then you can only kill in self defence, full stop.

I would have to lean towards yes. I mean it doesn't have to be through direct violence, you could try to convert him to the light side but there would probably be an effort made to stop any sort of evil blessed.

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off topic question... can you play other types of indians?

Sure, but I would probably at least take the outsider hindrance.

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As he is Irish can his blessed powers be from the fey world of celtic myth.

I actually have a player in my Deadlands group who is playing a character very similar to Adicus from the Iron Druid Chronicles, which I ruled to be a blessed that believes in the druidic doctrines. I would say that it's usually up to the GM how they want to rule, but I thought I read somewhere that the blessed have to just be a preacher of a religion, didn't specify which one.

as a marshal I'd want a blessed character to have a solid outline of what their sins would be and I'd make them generate a pretty hefty list at least equivalent to a major vow and they wouldn't be allowed to take a major vow that overlapped either. Miracles are potentially the most powerful of all the arcane backgrounds because it requires a lot of consideration of circumstance and arbitration. To be fair though I would freely tell the player if they indicate they are about to do something I would consider a sin and I would warn them "You've got a felling the powers that be wouldn't approve of that." and let them come up with another action.

Personally I restrict playing "blessed" to only experienced players who will really get into the role and have demonstrated a consistent acceptance of GM arbitration without slowing the game down for debates about ethics or morality.

I would be interested in knowing where an evil blessed gets their powers from. It would have to be a religion or belief system that advocated nastiness...

An "evil" blessed has of course been influenced by a manitou whom he thinks is the Supreme Being. His powers come closer to black magic than miracles. (which, I guess, are just black miracles?)

Although I prefer a set of good powers-that-be set against the evil in the world, you could, I suppose, determine that the good "blessed" get their abilities from a faction of manitou that are diametrically opposed to the Reckoners for their own reasons! Just don't let the players know...

SteveN_________________"We've got a blind date with destiny... and it looks like she's ordered the lobster." <The Shoveller>

But I also have the Deseret equivalents to Agents & Texas Rangers being Blessed. And paterned after Porter Rockwell (the Mormon gun fighter who couldn't be killed if he didn't cut his hair, bodyguard of Joe Smith & Brigham Young). They can and do put outlaws in Boothill, and the Powers that Be, don't seem to mind it a bit. They also carry John Moses Browning's new auto pistols (in our universe they're be known as the Colt 1911).

But that's my setting...

I was in the boy scouts with Porter Rockwell's great grand son.

My blessed PC idea is a Plug Ugly gangster from Baltimore who tries to quit and is working as an apprentice type setter in a shop making books for the Irish American market so mostly bibles and Celtic folklore. He was a street fighter but now only does amateur boxing in charity matches. His former gang jumps him, beats him up and mutilates his thumbs (all thumbs Hindrance) so he cant set type any more. While unconscious in the hospital he has a vision of a blue lady who tells him to come back and fight. This is the day of the reckoning and he comes out of his coma and the bodies in the morgue are wandering the hospital as zombies. By reflex he punches one with his bandaged hand and kills it with one blow with a smite like power. Now he is wandering around battlin evil with his blessed fist in a green boxing robe and weighted boxing gloves as Collin O'Cullen "The Fist of Eire".

And a reinforced leather plug (top) hat

I guess if need be he would have a shotgun and special loads for inhuman creatures (blessed silver, hard wood, cold iron) or 30 silver pennies for the most wicked of men

Blessed: This character would be a priest, nun, or pastor. A holy one who has stringent rules of conduct to follow as the flock looks to him as an example. They prolly wouldn't drink, use profanity, wash daily, pray nightly, and use their skills and powers in service to the lord.

Godly Gunslinger: Now they might have a very good grasp of the holy tenets of the bible, but they are not blessed. Their gun does their talking for them against evil, and aren't what most would consider pillars of the community.

Now simply put the blessed would do what he does for god and to protect his flock. The gunslinger mighht be a stringent believer and might have a good moral code, but he's not going to have to answer to anyone if something runs afoul of the lords plan.

In other words I'm saying the gunslinger would probably be easier for her to play, but as a GM your going to have to scale the adventure for this one player posse.

Hm...I hope so. My first Deadlands character was a Blessed US Marshal, and more than a few folks got sent to settle up with Saint Peter for doing wickedness (and refusing to surrender)._________________Tommy Brownell

so i brought up the topic of an evil blessed that would get his/her powers from the evilsprits. i understand that this would not be your avorage blessed but i was thinking after seeing a few movies where the badguy uses a coin toss to diside the persons fate. that a Blessed that was being influenced by an evilspriet might see a coin toss as god telling him/her what fate ther person diserves/ or what he/she him/herself should do. like say the blessed is about to get in a fight he/she tosses a coin and depending on the toss kills the individual or brings them in to the law. the way i was thinking the sinning charts would work is if the blessed does not sin in a game thats a mortal sin and fer ever sin it goes down a level so 3 sins and your good. i know this might be a hard PC to play but i feel it would be fun for a game im planing where all the PC's are wanted and do bad things.